NORTHGLENN, Colo.-
Gov. Bill Ritter unveiled a plan Tuesday that would block a projected drop in residential property taxes in all but two of the state’s 178 school districts to provide an additional $84 million for public schools.
Ritter said the plan is legal and does not violate the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights—a constitutional brake on tax increases—because it applies only to school districts where voters have agreed to relax TABOR’s limits to support schools.
Ritter wants to use the money to provide preschool programs, full-day kindergarten and provide more money to school districts.
“Investing in our children is one of the most important things we as government leaders can do,” Ritter said, flanked by a group of elementary school children in this north Denver suburb.
Ritter said the plan does not need voter approval because he’s fixing a technical flaw in the school finance act that limits the increase in school district taxes, even though voters in those districts have agreed to give up those increases to help schools.
The school finance act is scheduled for a hearing in the Senate Education Committee on Wednesday.
Douglas Bruce, one of the authors of TABOR, said Ritter will be violating the constitution if he goes ahead with his plan. Bruce said a vote is required any time taxpayers are asked to give up their refunds. He said it cannot be done by changing the mill levy because lawmakers are required to list a specific dollar amount.
He said the state constitution also requires the mill levy to go down if revenues increase, and revenues have consistently risen since TABOR passed.
Ritter has described his plan as a freeze on property tax rates, but Bruce disputed that.
“That’s not a freeze. It can go up, but not down,” Bruce said.
Ritter said he is giving up on a plan to use mineral tax revenues to increase education funding after it drew objections from the Western Slope, where much of the state’s oil and gas is tapped. Western Colorado residents said those taxes were set aside to help residents cope with the impacts of oil and gas drilling.
Ritter said the state needs the money because the state education fund, which is used to pay the bills for constitutionally required increases in state funding for public schools, is in danger of going broke by 2012.
Ritter said the amended school finance act will provide $65 million for full-day kindergarten, $12.6 million to eliminate a 4,000-slot waiting list for the Colorado Preschool Program, and $6.4 million for 11 school districts at the bottom of the funding list.
